One of the first things we need to do is to stop equating Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with Defense Department expenditures. The latter actually spends money that it takes from the government. The former does not.

We must not look at them as if they were actual redistributive uses of tax revenues. People pay into those programs and get funds returned to them. The fix for Social Security is as simple as it is politically unimaginable: remove the ceiling on wages.

Additionally, make every kind of income subject to this tax, including capital gains. The one thing we must avoid is to let this program become a means-tested one. Were that to happen, it would quickly be named a contemptible welfare program by some, and easily abolished.

The Democrats won the election because they more closely captured the will of the people who want fairness returned to the tax code. Barack Obama must not yield to House Speaker John Boehner on tax increases for the wealthiest. We do not want millionaires to be able to shelter money in offshore accounts, while too many children go to bed hungry.

We do not want tax breaks to go to corporations who ship jobs overseas. We do not want immigrants to so fear deportation that they work for slave wages while their employers get tax givebacks for hiring them.

Medicare should be extended to all people, so that health care would no longer be a right of the wealthiest. Medicare Advantage plans created in order to dismantle traditional Medicare should be abolished.

Finally, we need to amend the Constitution to get money out of politics.

<p>A recent Bloomberg News editorial excerpt suggested ways of avoiding the fiscal cliff ["Taxes and Spending: Rate Hike Isn't Only Answer," Nov. 19]. Closing tax loopholes is necessary, but this looming disaster gives us the opportunity to examine the entire tax structure.</p><p>One of the first things we need to do is to stop equating Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with Defense Department expenditures. The latter actually spends money that it takes from the government. The former does not.</p><p>We must not look at them as if they were actual redistributive uses of tax revenues. People pay into those programs and get funds returned to them. The fix for Social Security is as simple as it is politically unimaginable: remove the ceiling on wages.</p><p>Additionally, make every kind of income subject to this tax, including capital gains. The one thing we must avoid is to let this program become a means-tested one. Were that to happen, it would quickly be named a contemptible welfare program by some, and easily abolished.</p><p>The Democrats won the election because they more closely captured the will of the people who want fairness returned to the tax code. Barack Obama must not yield to House Speaker John Boehner on tax increases for the wealthiest. We do not want millionaires to be able to shelter money in offshore accounts, while too many children go to bed hungry.</p><p>We do not want tax breaks to go to corporations who ship jobs overseas. We do not want immigrants to so fear deportation that they work for slave wages while their employers get tax givebacks for hiring them.</p><p>Medicare should be extended to all people, so that health care would no longer be a right of the wealthiest. Medicare Advantage plans created in order to dismantle traditional Medicare should be abolished.</p><p>Finally, we need to amend the Constitution to get money out of politics.</p><p>SHARON ALLEN</p><p>Lake Wales</p>